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Posted: |
Jan 21, 2011 - 5:25 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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MADDALENA
Famous Morricone
#20
This series is inspired by a controversy thread where someone posited the idea that besides THE MISSION and some Sergio Leone westerns Ennio Morricone hasn't written anything great. Rather than making my usual comment that most of Morricone's great scores are from Italy and trying to get Americans to listen to them is like getting them to see movies with subtitles, I decided to take another tact. Since I am at an age where I will only be able to make my case a finite number of times I decided to turn this into a series presenting each great score one at a time, sort of like recordman.
I've enjoyed your responses to this series. Like Morricone's music they are all over the map. It is appropriate that the 20th entry is MADDALENA because it's story is emblematic of Morricone's career. Most Americans will immediately wonder what is so famous about MADDALENA? But Europeans only have to hear the name of one theme "Chi Mai" and they know.
When in 1971 Jerzy Kawalerowicz, a key figure in Polish cinema, decided to do a co-production in Italy Morricone was a natural choice. He had already done quite a number of arthouse films by then with a number of major Italian filmmakers. And this was definitely an arthouse project despite the erotic elements. It was the story of Maddalena, a free sexual spirit looking for meaning in her relationships and a young priest looking for meaning beyond his frock. The juxtapositions both of Polish and Italian sensibilities created an uneasy mesh. Leave it to Morricone to create an unusual unifying atmosphere that suggests both the sacred and profane.
Now this brings me to dissonance. You're talking to a guy who has had a long journey with Morricone. My first reaction was to avoid him. Then I wanted to hear select themes from him. Later I was fascinated by his many musical ideas and eventually I got to the point saying "he's not just doodling he is attempting something every time out of the gate!" Which left me with a massive amount of music and buch of dissonant cues I set aside. After awhile I was curious what someone a brilliant as he is is doing with all this noise. Then I looked into dissonance. I found the definition rather broad and I found this part in Wikipedia rather relevant:
Despite the fact that words like unpleasant and grating are often used to explain the sound of dissonance, all music with a harmonic or tonal basis—even music perceived as generally harmonious—incorporates some degree of dissonance. The buildup and release of tension (dissonance and resolution), which can occur on every level from the subtle to the crass, is partially responsible for what listeners perceive as beauty, emotion, and expressiveness in music.
So, as I gathered from the composers I've talked to about this, it is all a matter of degrees. I was originally going to label MADDALENA dissonant Morricone because it is practically all dissonance but I figured there would be quite a large group that would stop right there (in fact I'm sure there are a few I just lost). But this is beautiful dissonance that includes "Chi Mai". So here is Ennio Morricone that not only makes a dissonant piece a best seller at the time, but it stays in the popular culture for quite awhile. To the point that ten years later it is used as the main theme to the UK series THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE and becomes a hit all over again. Plus Jean Paul Belmondo hires Morricone to re-orchestrate it (and write the rest of the score) for LE PROFESSIONNEL and that becomes a hit. During most of his early concerts "Chi Mai" was a mainstay and would always get applause on the first few notes. And finally THE website on evrything Morricone is called:
http://www.chimai.com/
and now it's namesake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n83VRAWDjAA
Ultimately what Morricone did for me, like Goldsmith, over the years was teach me music. And maybe more than that I learned whether you had a 90 piece orchestra or put together in the studio one instrument at a time(because you had no budget) something that "sounds" decent, it was all the same. Ultimately after you learned basic composition, learning what instruments provoked what emotions in human response, then what do you do? Do you simply push those buttons and pick up the check? Or do you challenge your abilities by trying new approaches and maybe getting a more complex, richer response. You use all the tools at your disposal including dissonance. You pretend your audience is just as sophisticated as you and eventually they will catch up.
...as Ella Fitzgerald sang "T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)".
#1 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74811&forumID=1&archive=0
#2 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74838&forumID=1&archive=0
#3 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74871&forumID=1&archive=0
#4 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74899&forumID=1&archive=0
#5 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74951&forumID=1&archive=0
#6 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=74968&forumID=1&archive=0
#7 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75041&forumID=1&archive=0
#8 http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75065&forumID=1&archive=0
#9 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75088&forumID=1&archive=0
#10 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75103&forumID=1&archive=0
#11 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75147&forumID=1&archive=0
#12 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75194&forumID=1&archive=0
#13 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75252&forumID=1&archive=0
#14 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75297&forumID=1&archive=0
#15 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75307&forumID=1&archive=0
#16 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75364&forumID=1&archive=0
#17 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75414&forumID=1&archive=0
#18 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75471&forumID=1&archive=0
#19 http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=75532&forumID=1&archive=0
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I just love that over nine minute Come Maddalena track.
It is one of Morricone's most moving and powerful compositions for me. I never tire of it, and the concert version on DVD was nothing short of devastating. Seriously an amazing and wonderful score.
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I have the Japanese CD and really enjoy it.
Wayoutwest: Thanks for the link. A beautiful version. Would have loved to have been there.
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Suzanna is great
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